The Metropolitan Museum of Art is not the only destination for fashion history at the moment. While Dandyism and Black artistry are on display at The Met’s Costume Institute, over in Paris, the Petit Palais and Palais Galliera are joining forces for their own historic exhibition. Held at the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, Worth: Inventing Haute Couture celebrates the fashion house credited with not only creating ornate clothes to outfit some of the most important women of the 19th and 20th centuries, but also laying the foundations of the modern fashion industry.
Four hundred pieces are on display in the exhibition, which opens to the public on May 7. Clothing, of course, helps tell the story of this historic house—but also accessories, paintings, and other objects. In addition to pulling from its own archive, the Petit Palais borrowed from museums across the world, including the Met and the Victoria & Albert Museum, which curated its own show in 1958 to celebrate Worth’s centenary. Since then, however, not much fanfare has been paid to the House of Worth—especially surprising considering the outsize footprint that founder Charles Frederick Worth and his descendants had on the industry.
The exhibition explores the house’s history chronologically, beginning with its founder, who was born in England in 1825. When he was 21, he moved to Paris and began working at House of Gagelin. Worth quickly worked his way up the ranks and, in 1958, opened his own fashion house at 7 Rue de la Paix in 1858. Initially, Worth collaborated with the Swedish businessman Otto Gustav Bobergh, and the house was called Worth & Bobergh, but in 1870 the two men went their separate ways and the latter name was dropped.
Success came quickly to Worth, who grew to be the go-to designer for the imperial sect. Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, often wore his designs, as did prominent women throughout the world. In fact, many of Worth’s designs are immortalized in portraits painted by the era’s greatest artists, proving just how highly these women regarded their Worth dresses. Despite their advanced age, many designs from this period are miraculously on display in the exhibition, showing off the elegance and extravagance of Worth’s hand.
Worth: Inventing Haute Couture is on display at the Petit Palais from May 7, 2025-September 7, 2025.
